Starship Troopers

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Join the Army and See the Universe. That is the motto of The Third Space War, also known as The First Interstellar War, but most commonly as The Bug War. In one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial best sellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe - and into battle with the Terrain Mobile Infantry against mankind's most alarming enemy.

©1959 by Robert A. Heinlein (P)1998 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, 1960

A Memoir of the Mobile Infantry

Hello Civilian.
This book follows the life of Jonny Rico, the internet’s favorite guardsman. However, this book does discuss controversial views on the role of government and military.
Overall, it’s a story about a kid joining up with the military after high school, and his trials and tribulations of boot camp.
The narrator does a fine job reading it, but there are a few times when you can hear a change in volume for instance.
On the whole, enjoyable.

Excellent

Great book, more about citizenship than sci-fi and *much* better than the movie. A few weird spots where the audio shifts quieter, but overall a great production.

Great for military types.

What made the experience of listening to Starship Troopers the most enjoyable?

Being previously in the service, I enjoyed the ability of Heinlein to capture a lot of the little things about it while still weaving a good story.

What other book might you compare Starship Troopers to and why?

It is mostly like a cross between a sci-fi and a modern military biography.

Have you listened to any of Lloyd James’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Great book, great narration (could use an update)

The books is awesome. The ideas explored are certainly entertaining and interesting. While I may disagree with some characters' views, I do not believe Heinlein states them as infallible truths. It's an engaging listen with some worthwhile insights that can be applied to real-world interpersonal conflicts.

The narration is great, but extremely outdated. The audio drops in and out at times. This could greatly benefit from an update.

Loved the movie had to check this out

What did you love best about Starship Troopers?

I came into this from originally watching the movie and thought it was cool allot of the characters were in it that were in the movie, but was really interested in how they were in the book compared to the movie and was very surprised of the differences but really liked it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really like Johnny Rico the main character since that's who you follow, and I just like how he is in the book better, But I think Zim is my favorite He's a cool character, I liked him in the movie but really liked him in the book. You really got to know him a bit better here and made me like him allot more.

Which scene was your favorite?

-SPOILER-

(If you don't care much about spoilers whatever)

THIS HAPPENS JUST ABOUT AT THE END OF THE BOOK.

I really did like The part where he was about to enter his original ship and rejoin the Roughnecks, it put a smile to my face when he said, "I'm going home."

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

-SPOILER-

(If you don't care much about spoilers whatever)

THIS IS A BIG SPOILER THAT WILL HONESTLY RUIN IT IF YOU READ THIS BUT I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

I loved when he met up with his father, I had an idea they might meet again but how they did really surprised me, and it was a moment thought caught me off guard but was really an emotional moment.

Any additional comments?

If you've seen the movie I HIGHLY recommend going through this. It's a much more different view than the movie. The movie follows the book OK but in this you get a better idea who Rico is and what he really went through to rank up as he did and how he really felt about the war. As I've said I love the movie now I've gone through the book I love it and made me love the story in both even more.

What the heck! ! !

This was one of my favorite books to listen to. But seems some sort of update has been done since my last listening. It now has changes to the narrator and even duplicated lines when it seems like text had been inserted in a different voice.

underlying themes

Very interesting take on voting and running government, and also on corporal punishment. I would read it again.

A modern masterpiece

A masterful blend of science, fiction & character development. The philosophical depth of thought and the story kept it believable while spellbindingly entertaining!

Great

I enjoyed this story better than the movie. It gives more background and better insight into the main characters. A great tale.

Good morals

Yes this books past basically describes what’s going on today with the American youth. No discipline no morals ingrained at an early age. We need more spankings.